In the race to replace Democratic Sen. Julia Boseman in New Hanover county, Republican nominee Thom Goolsby starts the race with a large lead over Democrat Jim Leutze according to a Civitas poll released this week. Similar to the lead Bill Rabon enjoys in the neighboring 8th district, Goolsby is benefiting from having spent quite [...]
- May25
SD 10: Hudson 44, Jackson 36
District Attorney Dewey Hudson (D) holds an eight point lead over Republican nominee Brent Jackson 44%-36% among all voters in the race to replace retiring Sen. Charlie Albertson in Senate District 10 (Sampson, Duplin and Lenoir counties) according to today’s Civitas Flash Poll release. What is interesting in this race is the difference when just [...]
- May25
Collecting DNA from Felons
One of the seemingly more interesting bills making its way through the General Assembly this week is HB 1403, sponsored by Reps. Wil Neumann (R-Gaston), Pearl Burris-Floyd (R-Gaston), Darrell McCormick (R-Yadkin) and Thom Tillis (R-Mecklenburg) which would allow for a DNA sample to be taken from every person arrested on a felony charge. I’m not [...]
- May24
SD 8: Rabon 50 Redwine 35
Republican nominee Bill Rabon leads former Democratic House member David Redwine 50-35 in the race to replace long serving (and I mean long! 17 terms in Senate, 4 in House) Sen. RC Soles (D-Columbus). Rabon is benefiting in the polls from having just spent $140,000 to win the Republican primary over 2008 nominee Bettie Fennell. [...]
- May21
Good for Amex
It warmed my heart a bit to read in the N&O this morning that Amex was deciding to build a data center in Greensboro. Not only because our state could use some jobs, but because they decided to not seek any state or local incentives to do so. American Express, which has determined that Greensboro [...]
- May20
More Hypocrisy from the Left on Elections
One of the refrains often heard from advocates of taxpayer-funded elections is that eliminating the need to raise money will encourage more candidates to run for office. (Although, it’s been shown in Chapel Hill’s taxpayer-funded campaign ploy to not be true.) In fact, the organization established in North Carolina to lobby for taxpayer-funded elections, the [...]
- May18
SD 45: Goss 43, Soucek 41
Senate District 45 starts off its race much like that of Senate District 50 which we released yesterday — a statistical dead heat. Incumbent Democratic Senator Steve Goss leads Republican challenger Dan Soucek 43%-41%, but inside the poll’s statistical margin of error. Goss begins the race with a fairly sizable name ID advantage, practically doubling [...]
- May17
SD 50: Davis 44, Snow 43
Incumbent Democratic Senator John Snow’s race for re-election starts off as a dead heat with Republican county commissioner Jim Davis receiving 44 percent of the vote to Snow’s 43 percent. Among the most likely 2010 voters, Davis’ lead grows to four points, 47%-43%. Snow is fairly well known in the district with 34% of voters [...]
- May13
SD 43: Harrington 56, Carter 28
In the first Civitas Flash Poll of competitive legislative districts this year, Republican nominee Kathy Harrington is trouncing her Democratic rival Annette Carter 56%-28%. This is the district of retiring Democratic Senator David Hoyle, who had been able to hold onto this overwhelmingly Republican district (R+10 on the NCPI) through his long service, personal connections [...]
- 3May12
What a way to start session
It seems like the General Assembly leadership has learned absolutely nothing in the months it has been out. Four bills today on the House’s calendar: 1. Mandate two new coverages to health insurance, driving up premium costs (HB 589) 2. Increase fees for the residents of Union County (HB 565) 3. Create a dangerous FannieMae/FreddieMac [...]
- May11
Apparently PPP thinks it’s still 2008
Some people were shocked today by a poll released by Democratic polling firm Public Policy Polling that showed Republican incumbent Senator Richard Burr ahead of Democratic Secretary of State Elaine Marshall by only one point 43%-42%. That result made good headlines, but it has as much basis in political reality as Ronald Reagan coming back [...]
- 1May06
Is There Room for Moderates in the NC Democratic House Caucus?
Is there room in the NC Democratic House Caucus for moderates? From the primary results Tuesday, it’s looking less and less likely so. Two middle-of-the-road Democratic incumbents were tossed from their seats for apparently not being liberal enough. Rep. Bruce Goforth (D-Buncombe) and Rep. Ronnie Sutton (D-Robeson) were both defeated in the Primay in part [...]
- May04
PA Gov’t Tells Citizens: We Know Who You Are, We’re Watching
In the straight out of George Orwell, big brother is watching files, and actual ad from the State of Pennsylvania trying to get delinquent tax filers to pay up: A little creepy, eh? Real Clear Politics takes a look at the ad and includes a conversation with the people who own the house that was [...]
- May04
Assesing Voter Intensity from Early Voting Stats
Much has been speculated already about voter intensity this year — how Republicans seem fired up to vote and Democrats not so much, but we finally have some numbers that bear that speculation out. From Susan’s one-stop voting chart posted yesterday: Republican one-stop turnout was 74% of 2008 turnout. Democratic one-stop turnout was 26% of [...]
- Apr30
Some Thoughts on the Gulf as it Relates to Drilling in NC
Since the left seems to be thinking they can capitalize on the mess in the Gulf of Mexico to hamper efforts to increase offshore energy exploration let’s add a bit of sanity to the knee-jerk reactions. 1. The well that is leaking is leaking about 42,000 gallons of oil per day at current estimates. 2. [...]
- Apr22
Obama Favorability Turns Negative
While other polls had his job approval turning negative a few months ago, it wasn’t until this month, after the passage of the health care bill, that President Obama’s personal favorability rating among North Carolina voters turned negative as well — checking in this month at 44% favorable, 45% unfavorable for a net -1 favorability [...]
- Apr21
Gov. Perdue Getting Younger by the Day?
I was watching this WTVD video of Gov. Bev Perdue getting a little testy with a reporter over being asked about any potential connections between her and Ruffin Poole and noticed that the Governor appeared to look a little different in each video clip. Take a look and see for yourself: (Fast forward to about [...]
- Apr08
Where Do I Sign Up?
Fed up with North Carolina Democratic candidates not paying enough attention to labor issues, SEIU has started a petition drive to form their own political party here in NC. SEIU officials setting up the new party, called North Carolina First, are currently on the ground collecting signatures to qualify as a state party, SEIU officials [...]
- Apr08
Income Tax – Voters Think All Should Pay Something
One of the big headlines of the past couple of days is the revelation that nearly half of all US households will not pay anything in income taxes this year. Last April, we asked if voters thought that was fair — should low income earners pay nothing in income tax or should everyone who works [...]
- Apr05
The Truth on the Hewitt Incentives
Brian wrote last week about the Governor’s office announcing a $4 million incentive package for Hewitt Associates to “create” 463 jobs in Charlotte over the next few years. While that made a nice photo op and press release for the governor, we get the truth of the story today from the Charlotte Business Journal. It [...]